What it can do
Arranges fixtures in sporting leagues ('round robin'?)
Allows for clubs with multiple teams in one league but with limited venues
When arranging follows the following rules:
1. No club has more than one team playing at home on one day
2. no club has more than one team playing away on one day
3. clubs with multiple teams: 'adjacent' teams prevented on playing
on same day
i.e. club has 3 teams first, second and third
first and third allowed to play on same day
first & second and second & third combinations would not
(it is assumed that the second team would provide substitutes
for the first, and the third for the second)
The application isn't perfect. You will be lucky if you get a 100% fixture success rate. If are lucky to achieve 100% then the program will stop any further attempts at arranging fixtures.
What it can't
Maximum number of clubs is 100
Maximum number of teams per club is 9
Maximum number of teams per league is 240
Maximum season length is 12 months
erm.., I can't think of anything more right now, but if I do I'll add it on to this file
(My apologies to those of you who want to use this app. but don't have MS Excel97)
email : software@soumail.org
Tom Sou
Requirements
(actually what I tested it on)
Main development system
Intel Celeron 300 overclocked to 450mhz
192 Mb RAM
Windows 98SE
MS Excel97 with service release 2a
Test systems
1) Intel Celeron 300 overclocked to 450mhz
32Mb RAM
Windows 98SE
MS Excel 97 (no service releases)
2) Higrade (Asus) 7200 series notebook
Intel Celeron 300
64MB RAM
Windows 98SE
MS Excel 97 with service release 2a
3) Dell Dimension PC
Intel Pentium II 233mhz
64Mb RAM
Windows 95 osr 2
MS Excel 97 with service release 2a
History
20000819 some efficiency changes and window dressing
20000816 bug fix. Spotted a bug that prevented unfixed matches from updating in printouts. Max number of teams reduced to 235 from 240
20000811 minor detail fix
20000810 improved club summary printout for clubs with only one team
20000809 changes to setting of club dates so that changing league details does not wipe out changes to each club/team
20000808 minor debug/tidying to printouts
20000720 minor debug
20000718 fixed bug in fixtures calculation, which could cause a hang up, especially after adding a new club or team. Added option in fixture calculation and allowed limited customising of team sheet printout. Added print all clubs
20000716 minor code efficiency updates
20000715 fixed bug in fixtures calculation, which prevented matches being arranged if just one team in a club had a date barred. Tidied up some printouts
20000714 summary printout completed. Changed club/team selection in club info window to right hand box only
20000710 fixed limit on league start and end dates
20000709 resource usage problem fixed
20000708 still working on summary printout. Attempts to defeat resource usage by improving code efficiency
20000706 fixed bugs introduced in version 20000704. Minor code efficiency updates. Began work on a summary printout for each club.
20000704 removed team numbering from clubs with only one team. Enabled club and team picking from summary list in Club Info. window
20000622 minor debug to typos
20000620 changed time finished to time remaining in calculate form. Fixed bug in league details form
20000617 fixed some bug introduced in v20000616. Added check for max number of teams
20000616 changes to improve program efficiency (very slight)
20000615 update to readme files only. Details of PC's used for testing and development
20000614 removed some remaining development code that would give problems with 28 or more clubs
20000612 removed (increased?) maximum teams per division. Now stands at around 450/division. This limit would never be reached as there is an overall limit of approx. 240 teams per league
20000608 tidied up some printouts
20000606 approx. finish time is now updated after each attempt
20000601 fixed delete club bug, which prevented the team division from being updated correctly
20000531 more minor bug fixes and window dressing (will this never end?)
20000530 fixed cell borders in division view. Some general window dressing
20000529 more minor adjustments. Fixed add club hang-up
20000529 fixed bug, which meant that the division sheet printout wasn't cleared between division changes. Changed the version numbering to reflect the date
20000528 Finished. graced with version number 2.000. posted on my website
20000524 posted working prototype (no printouts) on my website
20000518 SMBL confirmed that I would do the fixtures for them
20000400 started writing the new version
19990000 offered to do the fixtures for the SMBL for the 2000/2001 season. They accepted almost unanimously (opposite to last year)
19980000 had the original idea. Did the first program in MSDOS QBASIC(!). This was scrapped after I got the fixing routine working. Used MS Excel97 to develop a working version. Big 1.5MB and slow. The South Manchester Badminton League rejected my offer to do their fixtures. The Liverpool and District Badminton League used it.
The REAL reasons why it's done in MSExcel
1. I am still learning programming in VB of any sort. I do have VB6 and I may one day convert this to a standalone app.
2. Using Excel makes it easier for me (see reason 1) to format printouts
3. 'Cos it's freeware I don't have to worry (I hope) about licensing issues by using a full developer package (such as VB6)